GREEN families threw themselves into traditional tree crafts at Westonbirt Arboretum last week.

The hands-on session on Thursday afternoon gave participants a chance to make their own paper, try natural dyeing and hurdle making.

Some 23 families and children learnt why the materials trees provide are essential to human survival.

They boiled up oak and walnut into a brown-coloured dye which they used to make patterns.

For the papermaking, families boiled straw paper to put on a wooden frame called a mould. This created a pulp of fibres that could then be pressed into sheets of paper.

Education and interpretation manager Ben Oliver said the idea was to allow children an opportunity to make different crafts from wood.

Mr Oliver said: "Paper-making and dyeing are ancient crafts. What we want to do at the arboretum is show people how our ancestors used to use trees to make products such as clothes and paper.

"We want to connect people with how we have used plants in our past.

"Trees are so beautiful. Only one acorn out of 10,000 will grow to maturity. When people realise they accept trees are very special and need to be protected."

Mr Oliver said: "Hopefully the children will remember what they did today and can build a better environment."

The arboretum contains about 18,000 different kinds of trees and shrubs covering some 600 acres of landscape.